3 reasons the 49ers' win over Buccaneers was more disappointing than encouraging

The San Francisco 49ers barely eked out a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10, scraping by last second.

A win is a win, but this victory carried with it a lot more disappointment than encouragement going forward for San Francisco.

The Niners barely won the game 23-20, thanks to a last-second game-winning field goal from kicker Jake Moody who missed three field goals on the day.

It truly felt like the Niners won this game in spite of themselves in several respects.

Let's break down why this game was so disappointing.

1. Special teams

Special teams continues to be an albatross around San Francisco's neck.

This unit looked like it improved in this regard in Week 8 versus the Dallas Cowboys, but it went right back to struggling in Week 10. Return specialist Jacob Cowing muffed a punt early in the second half that flipped the momentum of the game, and Moody missed the aforementioned field goals.

Special teams need to find a way to clean this up because it is going to cost them dearly at some point.

2. Penalties

The drive that Tampa Bay had to tie the game at 20-20 late in the fourth quarter was laughable. The Buccaneers marched down the field, thanks to a comedy of errors by San Francisco's defense. Flag after flag rained down on the field and gave the Bucs a very real chance to take the lead if they had scored a touchdown on that drive.

Thankfully, the Niners somehow held them to a field goal, but it was discouraging to see a veteran team nearly beat itself like that in such a crucial spot.

3. They turned on each other

After Moody missed his third field goal of the game, wide receiver Deebo Samuel and long-snapper Taybor Pepper got into an altercation on the bench. We have not seen something like that with the 49ers in quite some time. Rarely during the Kyle Shanahan years have players pointed fingers at one another or publicly tried to shame one another.

This is not the sign of a healthy football team.

Sure, one could argue it means they care, but seeing teammates turn against each other like that can be seen as an ominous sign going forward.

Ultimately, a win is a win even if it was ugly, and San Francisco did not deserve it. Despite these disappointments, the Niners are going to have to march on and clean all of this up if they want to make the playoffs this season.

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